Tennessee Conference UMC Commission on Archives and History

The Main structure of the Asbury-Babb House reconstruction is complete

Stone steps are on the side opposite the road, while the accessibility walkway is on the road side of the house.

I had a chance to visit today and the foundation is complete, the log walls are all in place, the roof is done and the shakes are complete. This was our goal for what was to be completed by this time, with the understanding that there would still be a need for work on the chimneys, flashing, (both of which needed to be done before the gables could be completed,) chinking, interior and steps.

We also hoped we would be able to install a concrete walkway for accessibility, but that was expected to take more time.

David and his team did as they usually do, they took advantage of opportunities and re-prioritized. The main goals accomplished, they worked in a bit more. The grading is done already, with some drainage to keep water seepage away from the house (part of what caused the decay of the lower logs on the original construction.) Stones steps are on one side of the house while a cement walkway goes up to the other. One chimney is in place already, which I guess will speed up the completion of the gables, though I didn’t remember to ask David. The roof looks great as well.

Chimney and accessibility walkway. There is a hidden drain between the walk and the house and the ground slopes to another drain to the right (unseen in the photo.)

There will be grass planted soon, we hope. I understand that the church behind which the home is located is supposed to decide on the type soon. It is hard to be certain how much work can be done during the winter. I did not have time to confer with David about all of that. I do know that chinking cannot be done in cold weather, so I suppose that will need to wait until next spring.

The ground falls away from the house on the side towards the shurch. As soon as a decision is made regarding the exact type of ground cover needed, it will be in place, assuming the season is still right for it.

I apologize for the lack of a film link at this time. I thought I was filming a complete walk around explaining what I saw, but must have done something to the camera as it came out as a 2 second film. I will try to get up there soon for some video, but except for the drainage explanation and such, most of what I explained is what is written here and you can get the same views from these pics.

Thanks again to the team that is doing this. Also to all those community volunteers (and those who traveled pretty far to help) that we have yet to officially thank. I have met some of you and know where your heart is on this.

First, I apologize for the delay in this second installment on the process and progress of the reconstruction of the Asbury-Babb House in Lebanon, TN. Shortly after my last visit I had several major personal issues that required my undivided attention. I am sure that all who are interested in this project would be willing to cut me a bit of slack, so I will not go into the details at this time.

I was quite pleased at the progress made by on the house when I visited on 16 July, nearly a month ago. The second story was up on the two-story side, the rafters fully in place and roofing underway on the other side.

Two-Story Portion of Asbury Babb House Before Roofing

Single-Story Portion of Asbury-Babb House With Roofing Underway

If one did not know that this was a reconstruction of a historic building, one might think that it was just a standard construction project, although not as elaborate as others in the area.

The Reassembly Team Working on Roof of Asbury-Babb House

Roofing was underway on the single-story while I was there, and most of the logs and other sundry materials were cleared away as they had already been incorporated back into the house.

The Area Beyond the Trees is a Private Residence. The Clear Area in the Fore-Ground is the Churchyard, Once Covered With Logs

Although modern tools were used for many parts of the work, and many neighbors and business folk have gladly lent their equipment, time and talent to this project, it was fascinating to watch the parts of the work done in a more traditional style. One of our primary workers (I apologize for letting his name slip my mind at the moment, but hopefully it will come back to me to replace this notation before too many have read this) gave me a rundown on some of the tools that were used and also on some of our log expert’s other old tools.

The rundown included showing how specific tools were used to cut and shape the logs and rafters for

Demonstration of Tools From Era of Asbury-Babb House. Hopefully the House Will be Used for a Variety of Education Techniques and Subjects

specific purposes, (techniques used to prepare the logs that had to be replaced,) as well as a demonstration of the used of a specific adz used to make wooden bowls (video here.) Although this last was not of use in the building of the home per se, it foreshadows future demonstrations for school children, tourists, visitors, or other interested parties.

I was also shown some of the reproduction work being done to replace damaged attributes of the original house, including “beads” in the rafters. The intention is to restore the house as closely as possible to “original” state, while not losing sight of the fact that it represents the history of the following 200 years as well. (Video showing discussion of both,here.)

Detail of Interior of Asbury-Babb House Showing "Bead" Work During Reconstruction

The work proceeds well, as I said, and I have been informed that the team has received input from restoration people working at the Hermitage, Home of President Andrew Jackson, into a way to produce and apply the shakes for the roof. Chinking, internal work, and a variety of details remain to be taken care of, but the heavy lifting is mostly out of the way. Although it will be awhile yet before things have progressed to the point of doing tours again, not to mention coordinating with other institutions to provide an educational experience regarding Tennessee, Lebanon, Methodist, or general frontier history, as a trained public historian I can say I am pleased with how much progress has been made in the heat, not to mention the other, more severe weather we endured earlier in the year.

A Primary Team Member Takes a Break in the Heat

I hope to visit the site again very soon, and give further updates. I am starting a new job (besides my unpaid lay-ministry of historical and communication work) that will change my schedule somewhat, but I hope it will increase rather than decrease my ability to visit, and maybe I will be able to better connect those who wish to learn about Methodist and Lebanon history with the completed project. In the meantime, to those businessmen and women, neighbors, and folk from a distance who have just heard about the project and offered their good wishes, we want you to know that we do appreciate your contributions. We will extend more formal thanks as the project comes to a close (we do have a contact list, never fear,) but the team has informed me that they are grateful and could not have gotten this far without you. Just the same, the project is not finished, so keep it, the team, and the rest of us in your thoughts and prayers.

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Jim

Tn Conf. Archivist

Jim Havron currently serves as archivist of the Tennessee Conference of the United Methodist Church, and posts this blog from that point of view. A trained professional historian, he holds a Masters in History and is a Certified Archivist, working in the public and academic sector in addition to his work with the church. His education and experience is in history with additional focus on public history, archives and museums, and with practice focusing on religious history, oral history, and user advocacy. His primary area of historical expertise is the creation, preservation, perpetuation, dissemination, and use of information and technology, as well as religious history. He can be reached at archivist@tnumc.org. He also blogs at other sites (his own and as guest or designated blogger,) under both his own name and pseudonyms.

The Asbury-Babb house, long associated with the last known place where Francis Asbury, the senior bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, formally preached is rapidly rising again in Lebanon, TN. (Well, rapidly is a relative term, as much of the work on this historic log home must be done by hand, and the hands of specially trained and qualified people at that. Still, it is progressing much more rapidly than has been possible until recently.) The log home was the owned by the prominent Babb family and was used by circuit-riding preachers when they came by. Asbury stayed there when he presided over the Tennessee Annual Conference shortly before his death. He was headed for other conferences when he died, but never reached them. He was ill during the Tennessee Conference, held at Bethlehem Methodist Episcopal Church (currently Bethlehem UMC, located directly in front of the present site of the home.) Some circuit riders reported that he preached and confirmed from the upstairs window of the home. Accounts vary a bit, but it is known that he stayed in the home during the conference and was taken there while ill. It was from there that he departed the last annual conference he ever attended.

The Babb home was moved from its original site a few hundred yards up the hill behind the church to its present location in the 1970s. Recognizing its historical significance to the history of both the church and the area (Methodism played an important role in the settling of the West, the Babbs were prominent in the area, and the home had unusual, if not unique, architectural features) the Tennessee Conference made it a historic site and transferred the management of the property to the Conference Commission of Archives and History (CAH).
The CAH administered it as a museum, where artifacts were displayed and history was interpreted to visitors by a volunteer curator/docent. Because the building had been occupied until the 1950s, it had some modern features. Electricity had been added and it was also used on occasion as a meeting place. Unfortunately, the building deteriorated during lean budget times. Experts were consulted regarding the historical value and preservation needs of the structure as far back as 2004, but it was not until fairly recently that the funds were found to restore the building.

The manner of the restoration was the subject of much discussion, as history professionals know often occurs in such cases. The decision finally agreed upon was to disassemble the home, marking and saving the logs, treating the materials, and then reassembling them with an eye to trying to be as true to the original design as possible. It was known upfront that compromises would have to be made, but as the home was not in its “original” state at the time of the dis-assembly, and indeed had not been for over a century, this was not, in the end, a big issue. Once the structure is completely reassembled, it may be a part not only of the interpretation of the early frontier life, but of the changing nature of the region, the church, and even of the process by which we choose to preserve and present history. It has the potential to be a great asset to the church and the community.

Michael Gavin, log structure specialist, speaks of characteristics of house in 2004.

The Asbury-Babb restoration process has been long. Besides financial issues, there have been the inevitable delays in the different phases of the project caused by bureaucracy as decisions were made through various formal processes. (The CAH is, after all, a commission of the church; full disclosure, I am a member) as well as those attributable to weather, the health of the contractor, and the fact that volunteers were being used for much of the unskilled work. Local people and businesses contributed work, equipment, or gave discounted rates for a variety of things, which helped get the job done, but such processes take time to arrange and often require adjusting the work to fit the schedule of the contributor.

All that being said, the walls are rising and the rafters will soon be in place. We anticipate the frame, minus the chinking, roof, and some details, will be completed by the fall. I went to Lebanon to see the progress today (28 June 2010) and was astounded at the progress made. I hope to visit more often and post updates here.

Mark, a log home specialist, hand-shapes logs during re-assembly

Re-assembly of Asbury-Babb House moving right along

David Collier has been the CAH’s project manager for this, at least officially. His wife, Linda, is the curator of the home, as well as a member of the Tennessee Conference Historical Society and the CAH (it is she that has been baking the brownies for the Historical Society luncheon at Annual Conference, I understand) and so they are pretty much a team. Two for the price of one. They have sought out, or been sought out by, a myriad of volunteers and experts over the past couple of years. After we have a chance to get “thank yous” to those folks, we will have to record the story of the house for posterity. Larry Marshall is presently the chair of the CAH, although the project predates his tenure.

In the meantime, if you have any comments on the project, please let us know. Several proposals have been made regarding the home and its use both for the benefit of the church and the community in the coming years.
Check back for updates.

[Unedited video of trip on Youtube, here. Quality poor, but gives some idea of where things are- Jim]

At the present time, there is not a blog for the Society of Tennessee Archivists (STA), so, as some of our historians and the Tennessee Conference Archives itself (I’m not sure about Memphis and Holston. I need to check, since they pretty much cover the rest of TN) are members, I will use this forum to let them know news that I hope to eventually post and link to on the STA blog (when it exists.)

In that tone, and as an addition to the previous post on awards given at the annual meeting of the Society of Tennessee Archivists, I would like to report that I recently found out that STA member Dr. Ellen Garrison was named a Fellow of the Society of Georgia Archivists (SGA). Dr. G is a history professor at Middle Tennessee University, Certified Archivist, Fellow of the Society of American Archivists, and former Methodist (if I remember correctly,) among many other things. The list includes being thesis advisor to yours truly when I attended MTSU, so she is at least partly responsible for your reading this blog post as I otherwise would not likely be in the position to post it. (It is, of course, up to you whether that is a good thing or not.) Her past with SGA is extensive, and I am assured that she considers such recognition by her colleagues to be a great honor, as well she should. I offer her congratulations from the TN Conference Archives and on behalf of STA, knowing that members of the organization and any others who might know Dr. Garrison will likewise extend their best wishes if this posts enlightens them on something of which they were unaware.

Jim

Tn Conf. Archivist

Jim Havron currently serves as archivist of the Tennessee Conference of the United Methodist Church. The opinions expressed, however, are his own, unless otherwise stated. His education and experience is in history with additional focus on public history, archives and museums, and with research and practice focusing on religious history, oral history, user advocacy and where the craft of history meets technology. He can be reached at archivist@tnumc.org. He also blogs at other sites (his own and as guest or designated blogger,) under both his own name and pseudonyms.